Corn herbicide changes for 2011

There have been
several label and product changes made in corn herbicides this year. Here are a
few highlights we picked up on a few weeks ago at the Commodity Classic in
Tampa, Florida.

* Realm Q, a
postemergence corn herbicide from DuPont, was federally approved last December.
Realm Q contains mesotrione (the active ingredient in Callisto), rimsufuron (a
sulfonylurea compound in a number of herbicide products), and a safener.

“Realm Q can be used across wider
weather environments with the high level of crop safety farmers have come to
expect for their corn and soybeans,” says Jeff Carpenter, U.S. corn portfolio
manager for DuPont.

Realm Q, which
controls both broadleaves and grasses, has both contact and residual qualities.
It can be mixed with glyphosate and be applied between V3 and V4, and control
weeds into canopy.

“Its residual
capacity separates it from applying just glyphosate alone,” says Carpenter. It
also can control weeds like waterhemp, lambsquarters, and ragweed that contain
biotypes resistant to glyphosate.

Realm Q will be
available in limited quantities in 2011 in western and northern areas. It will
be available in larger quantities in 2012, he says. Cost for Realm Q hovers
between $17 to $19 per acre, says Carpenter.

* Prequel, a DuPont
product federally approved in late 2009 for the 2010-growing season, is expanded
in quantity and region for this year.

Prequel is a
preemergence burndown and residual product containing both rimsulfuron and
isoxoaflutole, an HPPD inhibitor that’s the active ingredient in Balance Flexx.
It controls winter
annuals, early spring grasses, and broadleaves.